Essay #9

Media influences politics in many ways but the most important way is through agenda setting. A policy agenda is a collection of important issues which people are examining, they may or may not make up with government but they are playing a huge role in the policy-making. The President of the United States gets a lot of media attention because of his image. He runs the country so people are interested in what he has to say. The media engages in the agenda setting by getting the nations citizens to tune in. Between 1974 and 2002, older generations tend to view the nightly nes more than younger generations. Comparing 1974 and 2002, the younger generations viewership of the nightly news has gone down significantly. One of the uses of the president using the media to promote their political and policy objectives to the American public is the State of the Union address. Whenever the president publicly speaks it is broadcasted on all news stations, and over the internet so it is available for everyone to see.